Germany: Lawyer who represented fictive NSU victim cleared
Timothy Jones
November 30, 2020
A lawyer who represented a non-existent victim at a neo-Nazi murder trial has been cleared of intent to deceive. A court in Aachen said while he had shown great negligence, evidence of a deliberate crime was lacking.
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A German court on Monday found a lawyer who represented an invented client in a high-profile trial over far-right murders not guilty of intent to deceive — but still reprimanded him for "violating almost every obligation of due diligence." The lawyer received considerable funds from the state for his bogus case.
The lawyer had taken part as joint plaintiff in the trial of the neo-Nazi National Socialist Underground (NSU) group over a series of racist murders and the killing of a police officer. He was representing a purported victim of a 2004 nail-bomb attack carried out by the terrorists from the group in Cologne's Mülheim district — but the victim later turned out never to have existed.
In its verdict on Monday, the district court in the western city of Aachen said that the lawyer, now 53, had taken on the mandate in good faith from another lawyer, since deceased. The latter had invented the victim, named "Meral Keskin," and all her testimony, the court said.
"Keskin" was even invited to meet Chancellor Angela Merkel and received compensation of more than €5,000 ($5,974) from the Federal Office of Justice. The court said the lawyer had passed this sum on to the now-deceased lawyer who it believes invented the plantiff, with the defendant telling the court he had been too trusting of his colleague.
Doubts as to the existence of the victim arose when she did not appear and mail could not be delivered to her, but the accused lawyer appeared to have acted in good faith to the end, the court said.
He received more than €200,000 from the public purse, which he is paying back in monthly installments of €1,500, the dpa news agency said.
Prosecutors had called for a two-year prison sentence on probation, but in acquitting the accused, the court said there was no evidence of deliberate deception, and that the offense of "negligent deception" did not exist under German law.
The crimes of the neo-Nazi terror cell and the way state authorities dealt with them, still reverberate today. DW gives you the background to an affair that has shaken Germany.
Image: picture alliance / dpa
A mysterious string of murders
For years, neo-Nazis of the right-wing organization National Socialist Underground (NSU) killed people across Germany. The suspects: Uwe Mundlos, Uwe Böhnhardt (center) and Beate Zschäpe. Their victims: eight people of Turkish origin, one Greek man and a German policewoman. Their motive: xenophobia. Until 2011, the German public was not aware of the scope of their crimes.
Image: privat/dapd
Unsuccessful bank robbery
The murder spree was uncovered on November 4, 2011, when Mundlos and Böhnhardt robbed a bank in the east German town of Eisenach. For the first time, they failed. Police officers surrounded the caravan in which the two men were holed up. A later investigation concluded that Mundlos first shot and killed Böhnhardt, then set the caravan on fire and killed himself.
Image: picture-alliance/dpa
Zschäpe turns herself in
Shortly after the death of Böhnhardt and Mundlos there was an explosion at Frühlingsstraße 26 in Zwickau, in the state of Saxony. Beate Zschäpe lived at that address together with the two bank robbers. Zschäpe allegedly set the house on fire to destroy evidence. Four days later, she turned herself in to the police. The terror suspect has been custody since that day.
Image: Getty Images
The truth comes out
In the ruins of the Zwickau flat, police officers found a self-made video in which the terror cell claimed responsibility under the name of the NSU, the National-Socialist Underground. The 15-minute video shows crime scenes and pictures of the victims killed by the right-wing terrorist group between 2000 and 2007.
Image: picture-alliance/dpa
NSU claim responsibility
Famous cartoon character The Pink Panther hosts the amateur video, which is full of slogans of hatred against people with an immigrant background and which mocks the murder victims. Before her arrest, Zschäpe allegedly sent out copies of the video in which the NSU claimed responsibility for the crimes.
Image: dapd
Verbal slip-ups
Until 2011, the term "döner murders" was frequently used when reporting about the killings. Nothing was known about the connection between the individual cases, nor about the motive. There were rumors the victims were linked to the drug scene. But the NSU's video left no doubt. The term "döner murders" was chosen as Germany's "Unwort des Jahres" (doublespeak of the year) in 2011.
Image: picture-alliance/dpa
NSU also behind Cologne pipe bomb
"The findings made by our security authorities so far show no indication of a terrorist background, but of a criminal milieu," said German Interior Minister Otto Schily on June 10, 2004. A day earlier, a pipe bomb explosion in Cologne left 22 people injured and many shops damaged. In 2011, it became clear: the NSU’s right-wing terrorists were also behind the Cologne bombing.
Image: picture alliance/dpa
Memorial service in Berlin
On February 23, 2012, Germany commemorated the victims. At the ceremony at a Berlin concert hall, the focus was on the relatives of the victims. Semiya Simsek (right), the daughter of the murdered flower stand owner Enver Simsek, gave an emotional speech. German Chancellor Angela Merkel made an official apology to the victims and promised them that all questions would be answered.
Image: Bundesregierung/Kugler
Memorial for Mehmet Kubasik
"Dortmund is a colorful, tolerant and welcoming town – and opposes right-wing extremism!" This statement was made by mayor Ullrich Sierau at the unveiling of the memorial stone for NSU victim Mehmet Kubasik in September 2012. The memorial was set up just meters away from the kiosk in which Kubasik was killed on April 4, 2006.
Image: picture-alliance/dpa
Solidarity with the victims
On November 4, 2012, exactly a year after the terror cell was uncovered, people in many German cities staged solidarity demonstrations against right-wing extremism. The protesters called for thorough investigations into the racially motivated murders - which in their view was not happening fast enough.
Image: picture-alliance/dpa
Beate Zschäpe lone survivor
Believed to be the last survivor of the NSU trio, Beate Zschäpe went on trial in May 2013.Over 800 witnesses were heard. Zschäpe did not speak for the first two and a half years of the trial.
Image: picture-alliance/dpa/M. Schrader
Life sentence
Beate Zschäpe was given a life sentence. She was found guilty of joint complicity in 10 counts of murder, arson, robbery, extortion, the formation of a terrorist organization and membership in a terrorist organization. Though there was no evidence that she herself was present at the scene of the crimes, the judges felt that the "particular severity of guilt" required for a life sentence applied.
Image: Getty Images/A. Gebert
The co-accused
Ralf Wohlleben received 10 years for procuring weapons for the NSU, co-accused Holger G. got three years for providing false identity papers. Another co-accused, Andre E, received two and a half years for providing the NSU with rail passes in his and his wife's name. He also allegedly rented a mobile home which the cell drove to Cologne to carry out a bombing.
Image: AFP/Getty Images/C. Stache
Long lasting impact
When conservative politician Walter Lübcke was murdered by a neo-Nazi activist in 2019, his name was also found on the 'list of enemies' for targetted killings. Lübcke had come under attack from the far-right following a speech he made in 2015 defending the decision to take in refugees from the Syrian war.
Image: Swen Pförtner/dpa/picture alliance
Securty agency failings
The federal and the state parliaments launched investigations to shed light on the security authorities' failures in the NSU case: The role of paid informants, the lack of cooperation between the various intelligence agencies and state interior ministries, which are responsible for police in the respective states, and allegations of systemic racism on the part of German authorities.